Location and landscape
Grünstadt is located in the Pfalz region in the district of Bad Dürkheim and includes the districts of Asselheim and Sausenheim. The town lies at the transition between the Haardtrand, the Palatinate Forest, the northern Upper Rhine Plain and the Rhenish-Hessian table and hill country.
Climate and soils
The sheltered position in the lee of the Haardt brings warm summers and mild winters. The relief ranges from the Haardtrand, which is planted with vineyards, to the Eistal valley, where exposed Bunter sandstone rises to about 50 metres above the valley floor. Within the town area, among other things, there are Bunter sandstone, clay, marl, limestone, loess and Quaternary fluvial deposits.
Viticulture and vineyard sites
Viticulture shapes the use and cultural landscape of Grünstadt. The Höllenpfad runs through the single vineyard sites Bergel and Röth in Grünstadt and through Hütt and Honigsack in the district of Sausenheim. The Klostergarten in Sausenheim is also documented as a single vineyard site of the Höllenpfad group. The sites belong to the Großlage Höllenpfad in the Pfalz wine-growing region.
In the local wine culture, Riesling and Dornfelder are documented, among others. Drier Riesling and delicately sweet Portugieser rosé are also documented.
History of the cultural landscape
Viticulture in the climatically sheltered area has been established, as can be demonstrated, since Roman times. Grünstadt was first mentioned in 875 as “Grinstat”; Asselheim in 756 and Sausenheim in 770. Measures for land consolidation and agricultural intensification changed the vineyard and arable land landscape; later measures partially counteracted this simplification.
